# Will my antibacterial soap kill biological agents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406 "2001-10-24T22:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406/21 "2001-10-26T11:02:21Z")
[hijack] I’ve seen New Antibacterial Disinfectant on the shelves of my local supermarket recently. All these years, I thought that disinfectant _was_ antibacterical… can anyone shed some light on what this new Antibac Disinfectant kills that the old stuff didn’t? Is this just a marketing ploy because people will buy anything that’s labelled Antibac? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406/22 "2001-10-26T13:07:59Z")
Okay. 🙂 Actually, I was going to darn _you_ to heck for destroying my carefully cherished illusion, garnered from media reports, that bleach and peroxide, those home disinfection staples, won’t do a darn thing against anthrax spores. Boy, am I going to look stupid, if it turns out that all I need to do is spray the Better Half with my trusty spray bottle of 1:10 bleach solution… 😃 Actually, ☹ I haven’t heard anybody, CDC officials or otherwise, say that all you need is some bleach. But I _have_ heard lots of media sound bites on how ironing doesn’t work, and how certain kinds of irradiating don’t work, and how this doesn’t work, and how that doesn’t work, and how the spores can exist for years, decades, even, and then spring into life at a moment’s notice. And here in Central Illinois, the destruction of Iowa State’s anthrax stocks got a fair amount of attention. But we all looked at each other and wondered, “They couldn’t just dump it into a bucket of bleach or something?” We _understand_ bleach. We didn’t need to see the whole circus with the Smokey standing there looking grim, to prove to us that the Evil Spores were finally toast. [http://chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0110240034oct24.story](http://chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0110240034oct24.story) > [@](#): > > Anthrax central > Iowa State U. has long studied the disease that has made the mail deadly, but its experts see a bigger threat on the horizon > > October 24, 2001 > > AMES, Iowa - ISU’s anthrax eradication took place 10 days ago, or shortly after anthrax began spilling out of envelopes sent to legislators and the media. > > \ > > With an Iowa state trooper watching every step of the process, ISU technicians, looking a little like astronauts in their safety outfits, placed vials of the spores into an autoclave, or a radar-, rangelike, high powered, bio-contained cooking device, turned the heat up to 130 degrees Celsius, and left everything to “cook” for 13 hours. The trooper never left the room. > > Then, the next morning, the containers and their now-harmless contents were placed in a department incinerator regularly used for destroying everything from diseased cows to toxic waste, and left there for two more hours at a temperature of 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The trooper stayed right to the end. > > In fact, either of those two steps would have been more than enough to kill the B. anthracis, or anthrax bacilli, one of two stockpiles of the lethal organism in this central Iowa community of 50,000 people. > > \ > > The destruction of the anthrax in Cheville’s department was, as much as anything, a bow to pressure exerted by the state’s public relations-minded governor, Tom Vilsack. The school’s small supply had been unused, but safely locked in storage, for at least 20 years, according to ISU officials. I especially enjoyed the explanation, presumably provided for the _Tribune’s_ Illiterati readership, that an autoclave is a “cooking device”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406/23 "2001-10-26T13:25:08Z")
Any state trooper who can stand guard in a room without leaving for a quick visit to the restroom gets my vote for Employee of the Month. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406/24 "2001-10-26T15:07:37Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose_ > I especially enjoyed the explanation, presumably provided for the Tribune’s Illiterati readership, \*\*that an autoclave is a “cooking device”. \*\* _Pan shot of Mom and 8-year-old Daughter walking down Broadway. Daughter stops in front of an Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] location._ **Daughter** : “Hey Mom! Can we got to the Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] for lunch today?” **Mom** : “Why of course, dear. [_closeup of Mom_] It’s so inexpensive - convenient - _ **hygienic!** _” \*Smiling Daughter leads Mom by the hand into the Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup]. Cut to Mom and Daughter seated at table. Waitress serves Daughter soup in patented Thermo-Serv[sup]tm[/sup] pressurized container system.\* **Daughter** : Gee, Mom, what’s the Thermo-Serv[sup]tm[/sup] for? **Mother** : Why, that’s the patented heat system used to sterilize every item Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] serves! It raises the internal temperature to a safe 130 degrees celsius, to eliminate _all_ disease-causing agents. And it makes the foods so fresh and flavorful! Open the lid, honey, and try some! _Daughter releases the Serv-valv[sup]tm[/sup] and takes a swallow of the contents._ **Daughter** (turning purple): Gah! Gurgggghh! Urrrrkrlllll! **Mom** : What was that, dear? **Daughter** (hyperventilating): Hah! Huhhhhhhhhhuh-huh-huh-waaaaaahhhhhh! [_Her color lowers to beet red. She’s crying._] AAAaaaahaaannnnhhhhhhwaaaaahhhhnnnnhh. **Mom** (smiling, but pretend-cross): Oh, don’t be such a baby! Like I said, it’s 130 degrees celsius! **Daughter** : Waah! Hanh! Huhnh! WaaanhHaaanhHaaaaaanh! **Mom** :Oh, I’m sorry, dear, they don’t teach the metric system any more, do they? Let’s take a look at your throat. [_Examines_.] **Daughter** (while opening wide, in a low mewl): Hoooooonhooohhohohooooo. **Mom** (surprised and pleased): Oh, look, no more tonsils! The doctor _was_ getting worried about them, dear. That’s why the American Health Insurance Association recommends the Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup], where you can simply burn those disease-ridden nodes away and help keep America’s health care costs down! **Daughter** (weakly): Unnnhg. Hunnhgh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. [_She passes out._] _Closeup of Mom’s face_. **Mom** (with hand to face, telling a “secret”): And you know what? She doesn’t have a tongue anymore, either! Her larnyx should wither within 24-48 hours, too - so no more listening to her bratty whining! [_Camera pans back_.] **Mom** : That’s today’s Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup], America’s inexpensive, convenient, _ **hygienic** _ healthy food and health care solution! Save your children from the risks of scalpels, anaesthesia and hospital-borne infection. Try the Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] today! **Announcer, reciting at minimum 150 wpm** : Void where prohibited. By purchasing any Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] product or service, all Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] customers waive any and all direct, indirect and consequential liability, whether in law or at equity, for monetary or other damages, whether for injury, pain, suffering, mutilation, dismemberment, disappointment, depression, decapitation, hallucination, halitosis or death. All services not available at all locations. Autoclave[sup]tm[/sup] is a member of the American Health Insurance Association and an authorized payee under Medicare, Medicaid, MediCal, TennCare, union and supplemental insurance plans, except when it isn’t. Have a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![MalachiConstant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@MalachiConstant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MalachiConstant)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406/25 "2001-10-26T18:32:42Z")
Good Stuff OxyMoron!!! Regarding killing the Anthrax Spores in using a bleach solution: I’m confused. In the link posted by [bold]miatachris[/bold] it says: > [@](#): > > wash surfaces with a sporicidal agent such as 0.5% sodium hypochlorite (1 part household bleach added to 9 parts water). Hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid and other agents are effective disinfectants. So does the Texas Department of Health not know what it is talking about? Also I am having problems with the quote by GUILLEMIN that Duck Duck posted. > [@](#): > > GUILLEMIN: Sunshine destroys anthrax spores, but very little else does. Heat doesn’t, radiation doesn’t. It’s resistant to explosives. My problems are these: Sunshine is radiation, so what part of the spectrum actually is killing the spores? So heating the spores to 5000 celcius for 1 hour will not destroy them? Resistant to Exposives? Come on! What does this mean? How can something as small as a bacterial spore be effected by an explosive? Heat and Shock are the two methods I can see. The problem with an exposion is the heat is applied very briefly and I imagine that small particals like spores are relativly protected by the shock due to fluid dynamics. Of coarse it is resistant to explosives. (Oxymoron, can you PLEASE do a script of them determining that it was resistive to exposives? PlEASE? :)) I heard on NPR last week that the Spores can be destroyed by X-rays and Cosmic rays, but no mention of dosages. Anyone know about this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-my-antibacterial-soap-kill-biological-agents/89406.md?page=1)